MIZUNE FREIGHT RAILWAY - OKU-TAMA (奥多摩町) - NISHITAMA DISTRICT
History of the Mizune Freight line
The Mizune Freight railway was built as an extension to the Ōme line by the Tokyo Waterworks Bureau in the 1950s to aid in delivering construction material for the Ogouchi dam on Oku-tama lake, the dam initially began construction in November 1938 however due to a small event called World War 2 the construction was put on hold indefinitely. Construction began again in 1952. This involved relocating approximately 945 households due to the size of the reservoir, the biggest in Japan at the time. The 149m high and 353m long structure wasn’t completed without hardship, 87 workers are said to have died during the construction and the total construction cost was approximately 15 billion yen.
Ogouchi dam remains one of the largest drinking water reservoirs in Japan and holds approximately 189 million tons of water to supply the people of Tokyo.
Ogouchi Dam under construction - Date unknown
The railway is a feat in itself, from the end of the Ōme line in Oku-tama at 340m ASL it snakes up and through dense forested mountain terrain to the Dam at 520m ASL, the line is 7Km long and features 23 tunnels and 23 bridges, several tunnels being rather long with several over 400m and the longest being almost half a kilometer. The railway was built for the sole use of moving materials up the valley during the dams construction, and as such the Railway was sparsely used after the completion of the Dam in 1957. From what I can find online it was handed over to "Seibu Railway" in 1963, then again to "Okutama Limestone Quarrying Co." in 1978. At some point during or after this time it fell into disrepair and was essentially left to rot.
The Mizune line during construction - Date Unknown
After walking the entire line it's hard to imagine why it was abandoned, I spent some time in another mountainous area called Hakone towards the end of the trip and there is a scenic railway from there to a town called Gora. I can honestly say the views from the Mizune line knock the Hakone line out of the park even though the terrain is very similar. The sheer engineering that went into the Mizune line is far more impressive to me, there are parts of it towards the middle of the line where it quite literally goes from tunnel to a long curving trestle bridge over a gorge and then back into a tunnel on the other side, just awesome to walk across (carefully mind).
Anyway, enough waffling. The last thing I'll put here is a rough map I drew of the line, leading from the Oku-Tama terminus on the right to the Ogouchi Dam on the left. If you take a look at satellite imagery of the area you'll see parts of the railway poking out of the forest to the north of the 411. (Google maps satellite link - Google Maps )
THE EXPLORE
So, I had February off of work and decided to pop over to Japan for some backpacking, mentioned this to a lad I had been talking with alot on an Urbex discord that we both used as he currently lives in Seoul, South Korea. So Naturally I brought up the idea of him hopping over to Tokyo for the first 6 days of my trip, we're both big into photography and urbex so I invited him to join me. He found a cheap flight and was surprisingly happy to meet an internet stranger from the other side of the planet, be more like Ryan.
For the most part we spent the week sneaking up onto rooftops all over Tokyo, climbing Shinjuku billboards and generally trying not to end up getting tangled up in the Japanese "99% conviction rate" legal system. A few close calls but a lot of fun nights.
"Sending in Shinjuku"
I'd mentioned to Ryan that i'd been reading on Japanese Haikyo forums about a few "real" explores around the Tokyo area, instead of our usual rooftopping nights out. We were both pretty keen on the Mizune line so on our 5th day we woke up early and left our hostel at around 7am. Three trains and two hours later we arrived in Oku-tama. I'd done some basic satellite image recon to find the best point for us to start on the line so after a quick stop at a local shop for some food for later in the day we headed out.
We got there and headed up a verge that leads up to the line that I found after some "streetview research", and greeted by this friendly sign we cracked on across the first bridge.
If you have a keen eye you would've noticed a fence in the background of the last picture (right), we sure didn't until we got closer. Covered in barbed wire above and stretching the whole width of the bridge we felt the best option was to go around, hanging over the drop into the gorge wasn't what I had in mind right at the start of the day, but thats how it goes sometimes.
I don't like to estimate the height of the drop below but for reference, the "Mizune line during construction" picture I showed above in the thread is a picture of this bridge, so you can be the judge. Right image is me heading over the bridge towards the first tunnel.
As there wasn't alot of information about this place at all online, we were kind of surprised to see a fairly new gate around the entrance of the tunnel. The few pictures we had seen of this location had shown open tunnels and no security measures. The thought of all 23 tunnels being blocked off by a 12ft fence on either side began to dawn on us, we hoped this wasn't the case and scrambled over.
We hopped over, popped the headlamps on and headed into the dark. The rail in this section had been removed and the floor had been paved over with concrete.
Keeping an eye out for spooky Japanese monsters we cracked on, after a few twists and turns eventually reaching the other side, and to our surprise, another gate.
Me hopping over
The other side popped us out on an overpass on the south side of Oku-tama, this part of the railroad had been converted into a backroad leading to one of the towns cliffside graveyards.
We followed on through the edge of town, eventually leaving the last houses behind us.
A few more minutes past and we lost sight of the town, after getting through some pretty thick brush following the rail underneath us we reached the second tunnel.
No gates! Just the leftovers of a warning sign hung across the entrance.
From here on the track seemed pretty untouched compared to the first tunnel above the town. The rail was left as is.
Leaving the second tunnel we crossed over the hiking trail that lead up into the mountains (right side of left pic). And encountered our first of many bridges.
The first few of these were easy going, just had to watch the footing a little bit.
Spotting the next tunnel through the long grass, like some sort of black hole looming in the distance. This tunnel was a long sweeping right turn, made for some lovely light bouncing on the walls towards the end of it.
Popped out in the forest far above the main road that leads up to the dam. Well and truly out of the town now and into the forested mountainsides.
Heading on we hit several areas like the above, short overhanging sections followed by short <30m tunnels cutting through tiny mountainsides.
I really wonder how building all of these small tunnels was cost effective. Felt like alot of them could've just been cutouts through the mountain as there is barely any earth above some of these tunnels, surely cheaper? What do I know!
Heading out of one of these small tunnel sections we heard rustling above us in the trees, looked over to see 3-4 monkeys staring us down. Spent a good 10-15 minutes just watching them muck about.
Ryan had a monkey semi-lunge towards him after we got too comfortable so we decided to crack on into the next tunnel before one of us had to seek out a rabies shot in rural Japan.
One of the next tunnels was a straight shot ahead so naturally I ran ahead and told Ryan to pose, top pic is a composite of two shots at different exposures. After the tunnel came another nice bridge over one of the many streams running down the mountainside.
Ryan pictured in a short tunnel break on the left, and on the right an image that I feel really shows just how twisty the longer tunnels can get.
We hit another stretch of dodgy bridges up ahead, only this time the gaps were significantly bigger and the bridges were far taller than before. It also began to rain a little before so the rails became fairly slippy, adding to the fun.
The tunnel immediately following this bridge section was the longest of the whole line, 440m long according to online sources. We walked over what was left of the gate that used to stand at the entrance and headed in.
Towards the halfway point of the tunnel there started to be these cutaway sections showing bare rock, anyone know why?
The exit of this tunnel was unlike any other, we both agreed after that it was the most exceptional point of the line. It opens up immediately to this huge curving trestle bridge, bringing you out in the canopy of the forest below, overlooking the mountains and valley.
Carrying on the rain only got worse, so we powered through the long open section after the bridge and took shelter in the tunnels further on. Pic on the right shows how high we are above the road leading to the dam at this point.
The buildup of dead leaves and debris at the entrances of the tunnels got insane in this flat forested section.
Approaching another tunnel > bridge > tunnel further along we found the bridge had either collapsed or been removed to construct a small dam/drainage ditch, so it required dropping down into a small creek and scrambling up the other side.
Had a quick lunch break, pretty much on the home straight at this point approaching the dam, only a few tunnels to go.
One of the them had these mental vines spreading in from the entrance that sprawled in along the floor of the tunnel.
Hitting another attempt at a fence at the last long tunnel before the end of the line. The other side came out above the road and right in front of the dam spillway.
The line ended in a rather unremarkable gravel car park, thought we'd head up to the dam while we wait for the bus back to Oku-tama to check out the whole reason this railway was built!
Looking down the spillway towards the end of the railway in the distance, looking down the face of the Ogouchi dam to the Turbine hall below and one of the bridges on the line spotted from the bus back down to Oku-tama.
Massive thanks to Ryan for joining me on this one, and for sending me some of the pictures used for this report.
Cut the amount of images down a lot for this report but I understand it's still pretty picture heavy, hope you liked it anyway. Highly recommend checking this place out if you ever find yourself near Tokyo.
History of the Mizune Freight line
The Mizune Freight railway was built as an extension to the Ōme line by the Tokyo Waterworks Bureau in the 1950s to aid in delivering construction material for the Ogouchi dam on Oku-tama lake, the dam initially began construction in November 1938 however due to a small event called World War 2 the construction was put on hold indefinitely. Construction began again in 1952. This involved relocating approximately 945 households due to the size of the reservoir, the biggest in Japan at the time. The 149m high and 353m long structure wasn’t completed without hardship, 87 workers are said to have died during the construction and the total construction cost was approximately 15 billion yen.
Ogouchi dam remains one of the largest drinking water reservoirs in Japan and holds approximately 189 million tons of water to supply the people of Tokyo.
Ogouchi Dam under construction - Date unknown
The railway is a feat in itself, from the end of the Ōme line in Oku-tama at 340m ASL it snakes up and through dense forested mountain terrain to the Dam at 520m ASL, the line is 7Km long and features 23 tunnels and 23 bridges, several tunnels being rather long with several over 400m and the longest being almost half a kilometer. The railway was built for the sole use of moving materials up the valley during the dams construction, and as such the Railway was sparsely used after the completion of the Dam in 1957. From what I can find online it was handed over to "Seibu Railway" in 1963, then again to "Okutama Limestone Quarrying Co." in 1978. At some point during or after this time it fell into disrepair and was essentially left to rot.
The Mizune line during construction - Date Unknown
After walking the entire line it's hard to imagine why it was abandoned, I spent some time in another mountainous area called Hakone towards the end of the trip and there is a scenic railway from there to a town called Gora. I can honestly say the views from the Mizune line knock the Hakone line out of the park even though the terrain is very similar. The sheer engineering that went into the Mizune line is far more impressive to me, there are parts of it towards the middle of the line where it quite literally goes from tunnel to a long curving trestle bridge over a gorge and then back into a tunnel on the other side, just awesome to walk across (carefully mind).
Anyway, enough waffling. The last thing I'll put here is a rough map I drew of the line, leading from the Oku-Tama terminus on the right to the Ogouchi Dam on the left. If you take a look at satellite imagery of the area you'll see parts of the railway poking out of the forest to the north of the 411. (Google maps satellite link - Google Maps )
THE EXPLORE
So, I had February off of work and decided to pop over to Japan for some backpacking, mentioned this to a lad I had been talking with alot on an Urbex discord that we both used as he currently lives in Seoul, South Korea. So Naturally I brought up the idea of him hopping over to Tokyo for the first 6 days of my trip, we're both big into photography and urbex so I invited him to join me. He found a cheap flight and was surprisingly happy to meet an internet stranger from the other side of the planet, be more like Ryan.
For the most part we spent the week sneaking up onto rooftops all over Tokyo, climbing Shinjuku billboards and generally trying not to end up getting tangled up in the Japanese "99% conviction rate" legal system. A few close calls but a lot of fun nights.
"Sending in Shinjuku"
I'd mentioned to Ryan that i'd been reading on Japanese Haikyo forums about a few "real" explores around the Tokyo area, instead of our usual rooftopping nights out. We were both pretty keen on the Mizune line so on our 5th day we woke up early and left our hostel at around 7am. Three trains and two hours later we arrived in Oku-tama. I'd done some basic satellite image recon to find the best point for us to start on the line so after a quick stop at a local shop for some food for later in the day we headed out.
We got there and headed up a verge that leads up to the line that I found after some "streetview research", and greeted by this friendly sign we cracked on across the first bridge.
If you have a keen eye you would've noticed a fence in the background of the last picture (right), we sure didn't until we got closer. Covered in barbed wire above and stretching the whole width of the bridge we felt the best option was to go around, hanging over the drop into the gorge wasn't what I had in mind right at the start of the day, but thats how it goes sometimes.
I don't like to estimate the height of the drop below but for reference, the "Mizune line during construction" picture I showed above in the thread is a picture of this bridge, so you can be the judge. Right image is me heading over the bridge towards the first tunnel.
As there wasn't alot of information about this place at all online, we were kind of surprised to see a fairly new gate around the entrance of the tunnel. The few pictures we had seen of this location had shown open tunnels and no security measures. The thought of all 23 tunnels being blocked off by a 12ft fence on either side began to dawn on us, we hoped this wasn't the case and scrambled over.
We hopped over, popped the headlamps on and headed into the dark. The rail in this section had been removed and the floor had been paved over with concrete.
Keeping an eye out for spooky Japanese monsters we cracked on, after a few twists and turns eventually reaching the other side, and to our surprise, another gate.
Me hopping over
The other side popped us out on an overpass on the south side of Oku-tama, this part of the railroad had been converted into a backroad leading to one of the towns cliffside graveyards.
We followed on through the edge of town, eventually leaving the last houses behind us.
A few more minutes past and we lost sight of the town, after getting through some pretty thick brush following the rail underneath us we reached the second tunnel.
No gates! Just the leftovers of a warning sign hung across the entrance.
From here on the track seemed pretty untouched compared to the first tunnel above the town. The rail was left as is.
Leaving the second tunnel we crossed over the hiking trail that lead up into the mountains (right side of left pic). And encountered our first of many bridges.
The first few of these were easy going, just had to watch the footing a little bit.
Spotting the next tunnel through the long grass, like some sort of black hole looming in the distance. This tunnel was a long sweeping right turn, made for some lovely light bouncing on the walls towards the end of it.
Popped out in the forest far above the main road that leads up to the dam. Well and truly out of the town now and into the forested mountainsides.
Heading on we hit several areas like the above, short overhanging sections followed by short <30m tunnels cutting through tiny mountainsides.
I really wonder how building all of these small tunnels was cost effective. Felt like alot of them could've just been cutouts through the mountain as there is barely any earth above some of these tunnels, surely cheaper? What do I know!
Heading out of one of these small tunnel sections we heard rustling above us in the trees, looked over to see 3-4 monkeys staring us down. Spent a good 10-15 minutes just watching them muck about.
Ryan had a monkey semi-lunge towards him after we got too comfortable so we decided to crack on into the next tunnel before one of us had to seek out a rabies shot in rural Japan.
One of the next tunnels was a straight shot ahead so naturally I ran ahead and told Ryan to pose, top pic is a composite of two shots at different exposures. After the tunnel came another nice bridge over one of the many streams running down the mountainside.
Ryan pictured in a short tunnel break on the left, and on the right an image that I feel really shows just how twisty the longer tunnels can get.
We hit another stretch of dodgy bridges up ahead, only this time the gaps were significantly bigger and the bridges were far taller than before. It also began to rain a little before so the rails became fairly slippy, adding to the fun.
The tunnel immediately following this bridge section was the longest of the whole line, 440m long according to online sources. We walked over what was left of the gate that used to stand at the entrance and headed in.
Towards the halfway point of the tunnel there started to be these cutaway sections showing bare rock, anyone know why?
The exit of this tunnel was unlike any other, we both agreed after that it was the most exceptional point of the line. It opens up immediately to this huge curving trestle bridge, bringing you out in the canopy of the forest below, overlooking the mountains and valley.
Carrying on the rain only got worse, so we powered through the long open section after the bridge and took shelter in the tunnels further on. Pic on the right shows how high we are above the road leading to the dam at this point.
The buildup of dead leaves and debris at the entrances of the tunnels got insane in this flat forested section.
Approaching another tunnel > bridge > tunnel further along we found the bridge had either collapsed or been removed to construct a small dam/drainage ditch, so it required dropping down into a small creek and scrambling up the other side.
Had a quick lunch break, pretty much on the home straight at this point approaching the dam, only a few tunnels to go.
One of the them had these mental vines spreading in from the entrance that sprawled in along the floor of the tunnel.
Hitting another attempt at a fence at the last long tunnel before the end of the line. The other side came out above the road and right in front of the dam spillway.
The line ended in a rather unremarkable gravel car park, thought we'd head up to the dam while we wait for the bus back to Oku-tama to check out the whole reason this railway was built!
Looking down the spillway towards the end of the railway in the distance, looking down the face of the Ogouchi dam to the Turbine hall below and one of the bridges on the line spotted from the bus back down to Oku-tama.
Massive thanks to Ryan for joining me on this one, and for sending me some of the pictures used for this report.
Cut the amount of images down a lot for this report but I understand it's still pretty picture heavy, hope you liked it anyway. Highly recommend checking this place out if you ever find yourself near Tokyo.
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